The nationwide demonstrations following the police brutality against a small group of peaceful protesters in Istanbul’s Gezi Park has provided Turkish President Abdullah Gul with an opportunity to display unifying leadership.

This is increasingly crucial at a time when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears determined to use his electoral victory to pursue policies that are driven by his Islamist outlook and dividing the nation dangerously. The vitriolic tone Erdogan insists on maintaining against the 50% that did not vote for him in June 2011 will make such leadership stand out even more in the coming period.

More social turbulence is expected in Turkey because of Erdogan’s uncompromising defiance of his rivals, a fact that also has foreign and domestic investors worried. This will train eyes on Gul and his capacity to reassure the world that Turkey is not moving toward an authoritarian one-man rule that would have a destabilizing effect on the country.

Two remarks of Gul’s, while the demonstrations were in full swing, stand out. The first is his declaration, in a statement on June 3, that “Democracy does not only mean elections,” while the second one is his words, in the same statement, indicating that “the well intentioned message” from the streets “had been received.”